Op-Ed: Radiohead v. the record business, ‘In Rainbows’
Radiohead: In Rainbows
Self Released
Release Date: October 11, 2007
Op-Ed: Radiohead, At the End of the Rainbow
anna webber
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
Hunter S. Thompson’s words, sardonically true as they are, exemplify English experimental-rock band Radiohead’s dropping of longtime record company EMI and its subsequent record release sans industry backing. Hunter is famous for distressing whichever idiot he deems necessary by casting them into the limelight. He sends whoever was so unlucky to have wrought Hunter’s attention to stagger immediately before the public eye. Similarly, The Best Band in The World knows that same race of thieves, and sticks their middle finger up to the same scum. And they did it, in fitful accord with Hunter, by means of a surprise attack.
Radiohead knows that the worst sin of all in a world of thieves is stupidity. And unfortunately for the 21st century robber barons, they are some intelligent blokes. Refusing to continue adapting to the reality of the age—in this case—of digital downloading pirates and industry pillaging, Radiohead shapes reality to its will.
“San Francisco producers, label heads, and distributors say the biggest music story of the year isn’t taking place onstage at the Fillmore or in the racks at Amoeba Music,” says David Downs of SF Weekly. “It’s happening on everyone’s computer at Radiohead.com.” Radiohead sent many minds spinning reverse centrifuge with the release of their new record in early October.
After weeks of teasing and posting cryptic clues on their Dead Air Space website regarding the release of their seventh studio album—in their strange enigmatic style—the Radiohead public searched for, not a leak of music, but a leak of information. Very confused, we knew only that we were to watch for news from the band, that they’ve been recording since 2005, and that Radiohead’s record deal was up after Hail to the Thief’s release in 2003. As it turns out, the long-awaited album was turned out independently to a virtually unsuspecting public. Though Radiohead did throw clues, it was accepted as truth that the album would release in 2008.
Surprise! Grenade launch.
The gasps of record companies were heard far and wide after In Rainbows became available in the U.S. on October 12, exclusively through the album site. The rift deepened when it appeared that the buyer determines the price they felt like paying for it. No offer was refused. What’s it worth? Many said nothing. But many said that it was worth more than plastic it would have been burned on.
Peter Rojas, founder of Engadget and co-founder of RCRD LBL, a free online-only music label launched by Downtown Records says, “there’s no good way for labels to compete given that the cost structure of the business was designed around physical releases.”
And the news bounded through cyberspace within minutes, through MySpace.com, Facebook.com, the blogosphere, eventually seeping through real space as users were pulling in downloads. The good news for Radiohead is that reports indicate that fans are paying more for their new album than they generally pay for a CD.
Taking a moment to explain how it traditionally works when an artist has contracted with a major record company, right away it is clear why this move towards eliminating them is a laughing matter for bands like Radiohead, and a crying shame for the record industry.
After the openhanded label of choice drives a stake through you (the artist), it makes accessible all sorts of things like record advances (sometimes very large sums of money that take care of a producer, studio costs and the like), record royalties, video royalties, live performance monies, merchandising revenue, and music publishing.
After the nice guy waves the goods in front of the stars in our artists’ eyes—the money we (the consumer) pay for the CD, means zilch as a common royalty rate for the band is anywhere from 11 to 16 percent of the suggested retail list price of the record. After deducting up to 4 percent for the record producer, the band may divide the remaining points equally. A new artist can expect a grim approximation of $1.00 per CD or 25 cents per member, if there are only four. But then there are recoupable expenses, which really mean that you won’t make any money for a number of years through record royalties. On top of that, cross-collateralization. And on and on into the money trench. Where the hell is the money? Ask Willie Nelson who, in the words of Radiohead, was left “High and Dry” as he was sent wading through that ol’ trench.
And record labels have long been accused of stealing musicians’ copyrights as soon as the ink is dry on the contract.
In early October, a spokesman for the band revealed to BBC that “most people are deciding on a normal retail price” and that most fans had preordered the disc box. Citing a source close to the band, Gigwise.com reported that by October 10, 2007 (before its release in the U.S.) the album had sold 1.2 million copies.
The record went platinum in a few weeks because of the fan’s appreciation of, not only the band’s goodwill, but because of their 22-year-old rapport with the band. Because Radiohead is no longer affiliated with a record label, and with a very low overhead, they are receiving the fruit of their creative labor. But it’s some sort of super fruit, marinated at the roots by some concentrated concoction of Miracle Grow.
The boys with radios for heads are really looking like the smart guys in the room, no?
It is difficult to be any more honest with a record when it’s entirely up to you to make it, what goes in, how it’s done, the message it sends.
And the message is clear. Between content and method, Radiohead’s intent is control.
According to a poll by the U.K. based entertainment magazine NME, fans are prepaying an average of $10 for In Rainbows. The Wall Street Journal estimates the cost to Radiohead is $3.40 per unit. Multiplying the profit by about a million copies, and considering future hard sales of the CD in 2008, their major world tour launching in May, licensing, the enhanced box set—which shipped December 3rd with bonus tracks, double vinyl, art, digital photographs—and Radiohead’s hit a digital goldmine. If this becomes a pattern, for the music industry to thrive and renew contracts with bands, they are going to have come up with much more favorable negotiations.
Dubbed the Best Band in the World, Radiohead’s album was released unsigned, self-produced, and self-promoted. Granted Radiohead fans hang on their every word, promotion was not at all difficult. But with In Rainbows, the band sidesteps a record company’s necessity entirely, making the album available instantly to everyone worldwide that has Internet access and a few megabytes of available space. And bigger yet, that release was controlled. There was no one to leak it.
In 2003, an unmastered version of Hail to the Thief was leaked on the internet two months before the official release date, which is very common. It is quite unnerving that so many hands have access to a band’s music before the artist gets a chance to finish and unveil it. The problem isn’t that people share music, as Radiohead acknowledges with their experimental release, it is the control to dictate where and how and why their tracks are released that’s become important.
Steve Jobs, on February 6, 2007 remarked: “Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music.”
In Rainbows release method was not only about control, it was a brilliant social experiment. What they did, really, was revolutionary. It challenges and disintegrates established ideas of impossibility. It is so much easier to breathe without a choke chain, and it is so much easier to determine how creative you allow yourself to be. Hire a producer. Record a great record. Record it in your bathroom, on your home computer, mic it up, mix and master it. Play and perform, appear on MySpace, youtube, self-promote. That’s the layman’s drill, and everyone’s doing it. Without signing any contracts.
Incidentally, this approach challenges listeners. It challenges the people to determine what the music is worth to them. If it is worth nothing, then take it. Spread it. Give it to your friends, let it rattle everyone’s brains. They’ll show up when the tour comes around.
But that means something sad for some artists who are not well-received. When the middle man is phased out, being a rockstar is serious business. Bands will have to actually be good, They will have to make themselves. Fodder for the industry’s cash cow beginning with Shirley Temple from Elvis to Fergie, the dumber-downers sometimes held responsible for materializing the kiddies, could be getting phased out. The reality of their omnipresence became undeniable to me when my seven year-old niece began dancing on the coffee table seducing the TV screen alongside a Pussycat Dolls commercial.
Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge, formerly of the multi-platinum band Creed, chewed over Radiohead’s distribution move, saying: “We don’t have a big enough name in the marketplace to do something as radical as they’ve done. I think a band like Tool can do it, Radiohead can do it, Dave Matthews can do it—huge acts—but Alter Bridge is not there.” If you’re good and unique enough for us to like you, you will be. I’m still waiting to see the next great songwriters, the new Gram Parsons, Dylan, CSNY, to come out with a record as amazing as the Stone’s Beggar’s Banquet. Who the heck is Alter Bridge?
When you can’t—or won’t—hide behind a label anymore, the music will have to become great again in order to thrive. You sure won’t be able to blame the label for a weak record.
There’s an “elephant in the room, tumbling tumbling tumbling… dead from the neck up,” sings frontman Thom Yorke. Music, as all art in a society, represents that society, functioning as a channel for the voice of its people. If this shift in the music industry evolves into a paradigm for what’s coming, we may easily be at the beginning of a revolution. Isn’t it time now?
